"Black Lesbians: An Annotated Bibliography," compiled by JR Roberts and published in 1981, is a noteworthy landmark in the history of women's studies, African-American studies, and lesbian and gay studies. Roberts' 341 primary bibliographic entries, each one accompanied by an informative annotation, made available a vast body of work about the lives of Black lesbians.

Roberts' book includes a foreword by Barbara Smith, a Black lesbian writer who continues to be a forceful presence as a writer and activist (see, for example, Smith's 1999 essay collection "The Truth That Never Hurts," published by Rutgers University Press). In her foreword Smith declares, "This book should be available in every library in this country, particularly those in Black communities."

Roberts' entries cover six primary areas of study: "Lives and Lifestyles"; "Oppression, Resistance, and Liberation"; "Literature and Criticism"; "Music and Musicians"; "Periodicals"; and "Research, Reference, and Popular Studies." A marvelous gallery of photographs and an appendix of materials related to a "lesbian witch hunt" on a U.S. Navy ship further add to the book's value.

A wealth of books, magazine articles, recordings, and other materials are covered. Particularly fascinating is the section on literature and criticism, which undoubtedly introduced such Black women writers as Becky Birtha, SDiane Bogus, Anita Cornwell, and Pat Parker to many readers for the first time.

These writers are just part of a remarkable gathering of Black lesbian lives. The priestess of a witches' coven, a joyfully recovering drug addict, the co-parent of a child conceived through artificial insemination--these and many, many more have their stories made more accessible thanks to Roberts' careful scholarship.

In the foreword Barbara Smith declares, "The book you are holding in your hand is a kind of miracle." In a society that is often stifled by the triplet horrors of racism, sexism, and homophobia, "Black Lesbians" is indeed a miracle. I know of no other edition besides the original 1981 edition published by the Naiad Press. But if you are a scholar of any of the three fields mentioned at the beginning of this review, you will want a copy of this historic work for your library.

Most white people rarely think about racial discrimination except as something that happened "back then" "down south". We're (I write this as a white man) far more likely to whine about "reverse discrimination," about how unfair affirmative action is and how confusing PC speech has become (Are "they" black, African-Americans, people of color or *what* ?). We tend to think of black people three ways:

1) We see them as white people with extra pigmentation. We don't really notice any difference and blithely assume that they're "just like us".

2) We see them as gods and superheros, running faster, jumping higher, dancing better, and better endowed in various ways.

3) We demonize them--welfare mothers pumping out babies, gangstas, crack ho's & that junkie pulling a smash 'n' grab to feed his habit.

Rarely do we ever try to understand what it's like, growing up different. Langston Hughes, in this powerful little book, opens a window for us. Although aimed at children of all races, perhaps the people who benefit most from this work will be white "liberals" who think racism is horrible until an African-American family moves in down the block.

"Misery is when the taxi cab won't stop for your motoher and she says a bad word."

"Misery is when you first realize so many things bad have black in them, like black cats, black arts, blackball."

"Misery is when you go to the Department Store before Christmas and find out that Santa is a white man."

"Misery is when you start to help an old white lady across the street and she thinks you're trying to snatch her purse."

These, and a whole host of others, are poignantly illustrated by Arouni. The book is introduced by Jesse Jackson, who points out that some things are dated (society has evolved a bit since 1967), but that plenty of room for progress remains. Historical events, such as the presidential election of 2000, demonstrate that deep and systematic racism still pervades American life. This was the last work that Langston Hughes wrote. He died in 1967, while working on the manuscript.

Both my 13-year-old son and my 8-year-old daughter have found the book touching. Reading it with them has helped them to have a better understanding of what it might be like to be "different." I believe this book opens the way for genuine dialogue between people of different races, instead of maintaining projections and biases.

This book is a story of a number of lives that come together in late nineteenth-century Colorado. Although, It is a novel, there are characters in this book who are real and most others seem to be based on real people. Most notable is "Old Mose", the last grizzly bear in Colorado. This book is thouroughly enjoyable and is a must for anyone interested in South Park History. Be careful about the condition if you are considering buying this book. It was only printed once in 1975, so copies with the dust jacket are very rare. Most of the copies around are used library books in poor condition.

The sequel to "The Islander" Book One of the Stormlands, was an absolute treasure of fantasy, adventure and a splash of romance mixed together in a wonderful blend of story-telling.John Maddox Roberts did a wonderful job of mixing in the real life learned strengths of Hael (hero) and a touch of a higher power type Colorful, adventureous and a pick up and don't put down kind of book.

My children and I have read this book together several times. The language is easy to read aloud, evocative and lyrical. The pictures are as compelling as the text.

My friend Edgar actually wrote this, I'm just passing it on, since he's read the book and I haven't yet. The language is a bit stilted because it was originally included in a college term paper.

If earlier attempts to form historical connections from the pre-Contact past to the ethnographic present have been confounded by unintelligible data, new developments in Maya hieroglyphic translation radically collapsed many of the previous barriers to consulting the pre-Contact records, especially from the Classic Period (ca. 100-900 CE). Blaffer's fascinating (1972) ethnozoological monograph focuses on bat symbolism, from pre-Contact mythology and iconography to modern ethnography and folklore of the Tzotzils around Zinacantan, Chiapas. Specifically, Blaffer is interested in the continual identification of the bat with what in structuralism is termed the "ambiguous" or "anomalous intermediate category," a type of entity that obtains characteristics from both poles of otherwise diametric oppositions: nature/culture, life/death, male/female, animal/human, and so forth.

Composed of myriad primary sources, Conrad prefaces each document with a description, date and summary of the following text. Organized topically and then chronologically within each section, the format perfectly suits the researcher. Interestingly, (for my purposes) the text contains numerous accounts of quilombos in Palmares, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and others. The documents date from 1550 (approx.) through the final proclamation ending slavery in Brazil in 1888. Outstanding research tool, as well as an interesting read for those wishing to learn, first hand, about slavery in Brazil.

Do you know someone who is a religious zombie? Do you know someone who is livivng in ghetto conditions who justifies it all by saying, "it'll be alright after I die and go to heaven." Do you know people who take the bus to church while they give all of their money to the preacherman who drives a caddy? THEN THIS BOOK IS FOR THEM! Check the peom about "The Cold Black Preach" near the beginning, the documented tales of clerical exploitation of an already-exploited people, and STOP BEING FOOLED! See also "Pulpit Confessions" by N. Moore and "The Slavemaster's Religion" by Glenn Royster for further reading.

I highly recommend this book to any law or business student who is trying to figure out the complicated web of business entities - corporations, LLC's, partnerships, etc. This book also stands alone as a guide to anyone not taking a course. I recommend it to anyone starting a company or becoming a partner or member of a business entity. It could save you thousands of dollars down the road if you know your rights and risks involved.

A fascinating journey through the doowop era in Chicago. It's all here-singers, songwriters, record companies. If it happened, Pruter has chronicled it. Another book by the same author-"Chicago Soul"-picks up the story where this book ends.